Occasionally, China’s famously media-shy ambassadors in Africa come out of their shells and engage in surprisingly frank discussions on social media. Admittedly, it doesn’t happen very often but it did on Monday over on Fei Shengchao’s Twitter page when the Chinese envoy to Somalia responded to critical comments about Xinjiang and Taiwan.

After a brief exchange about China’s treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority population, Somaliland freelance journalist Mohamed Amin commented on Taiwan. Fei, uncharacteristically calmly for a Chinese official in this day and age, laid out Beijing’s position on the issue in clearer language than usual.